What threads are

A thread is a tab whose Claude can hand work to other tabs in the same folder group. Those tabs are its sub-threads. The thread’s Claude sends each sub-thread a message, the sub-threads do the work in their own tabs, and when they’ve finished the thread gets their results back in one message. Each sub-thread is a whole tab: you can watch what it’s doing, steer it, and answer its prompts.

A thread selected, with its sub-threads indented under it in the sidebar, SendMessage calls in the conversation, and its tasks and plan on the Tasks page.

Threads are different from subagents, which run inside one session where you can’t step into them. A sub-thread is a tab like any other.

How it goes

  1. You make a tab a thread and give it sub-threads: new tabs in its folder, or existing ones from the same group.
  2. You ask the thread’s Claude to split up a task. It sends each sub-thread a message with Claude Code’s own SendMessage tool, which is what Claude Code uses to message another session (Claude Code’s tools reference lists it).
  3. Unless you’ve turned that off, the thread asks you before each message goes (Sending work and getting reports).
  4. The sub-threads work. Their permission prompts, questions and plans stay yours: you answer them in their tabs, or from a strip over the thread’s composer (Sub-threads waiting on you).
  5. When none of the sub-threads is still working on what it was sent, the thread gets one message with each one’s outcome and last reply, and carries on.

What Claude is told

Setting a thread up costs no turn. The next message you send in the thread carries a note naming its sub-threads and how they work, and again whenever its sub-threads change. That message’s card shows Told Claude about its sub-threads under it, with the note as its tip. After Stop being a thread, the next message tells Claude it’s no longer one.

A sub-thread’s Claude is told who a message is from, From the thread ‹name›, and that its final reply goes back on its own, so it answers there instead of messaging back.

Prompts stay yours

Claudette never answers a sub-thread’s permission prompts, questions or plans for you, and the thread’s Claude never hears of them. They wait for you.

What threads don’t do

  • Threads don’t nest: a sub-thread can’t be a thread.
  • Sub-threads come from the thread’s own folder group only.
  • Threads aren’t synced through the session library.
  • The thread’s Claude can’t make sub-threads or answer their prompts. That stays with you.

Kept with your tabs

Whether a tab is a thread, its Ask before sending to sub-threads choice and which thread a tab belongs to are saved with the tabs, so they survive a restart. Work under way when Claudette closes isn’t picked up again: a restored thread gets no report for it.

Closing a thread leaves its sub-threads open as ordinary tabs, and so does Stop being a thread. Neither sends a report for work under way. Duplicate tab, Branch from here and opening a copy from History start ordinary tabs.

See also

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Claudette is made by dotBunny under the MIT license. Privacy policy

Claude and Claude Code are trademarks of Anthropic, PBC. Godot and the Godot logo are trademarks of the Godot Foundation; the logo is by Andrea Calabró, under CC BY 4.0. Unity is a trademark or registered trademark of Unity Technologies or its affiliates in the U.S. and elsewhere. Unreal®, Unreal Engine®, and the Unreal Engine® logo are trademarks or registered trademarks of Epic Games, Inc. in the United States of America and elsewhere. Other brands or product names are the trademarks of their respective owners. The logo is used with Epic's permission. Perforce, P4V and the Perforce logo are trademarks of Perforce Software, Inc. or one of its affiliates; the logo is used with Perforce's permission. Claudette isn't sponsored by, affiliated with or endorsed by any of them. Other names are trademarks of their owners.

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